Railfanning Fort Ticonderoga

I was at Fort Ticonderoga with Gideon a couple weeks ago, and we had some time to do some railfanning. The northbound Adirondack appeared a couple minutes before it’s estimated time, so we were caught off guard a little. I apologize for my terrible photography, I haven’t really practiced using the zoom lens. The northbound […]

Rebuilding the GP Mill, Part 6: Scratchbuilding a Pulp Tank and Switching Focus on the Layout

My next, and final step on the GP mill project (at least for a while) was to finish the scratchbuilt pulp tank. I constructed the tank using three Scotch tape spools. Rather than using styrene on the ends of the tank, I used cardstock. I glued a connector pipe on. Some paint and a brake […]

Virtual Work Sessions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

While layout work sessions are impossible due to the ban on gatherings in NY state, Gideon and I have overcome this by having virtual “work sessions” where we discuss the construction of our layouts, and talk about future projects. Here’s the copilot Explaining the position of a gate on my layout.

Rebuilding the GP Mill, Part 5: More Chain Link Fence and Scenery

The next step in the GP mill project was to make a short run of chain link fence. I used the same techniques as shown in the last post. This time I tried painting the frame with a silver paint marker. I installed the fence on the layout by drilling small holes and poking the […]

Rebuilding the GP Mill, Part 4: Scratchbuilding Chain Link Fence

My next step in this project was to scratchbuild some chain link fence for the complex. I used an article in the March 2018 Model Railroader and a YouTube video by Luke Towan to learn how to do this. I started by cutting 0.032 in music wire to the correct lengths, holding them together with […]

Rebuilding the GP Mill, Part 3: a Grade Crossing and Working Gates

In the last update, I talked about modifying the receiving building. After that was complete, I turned my attention to the grade crossing. I constructed this using techniques previously described on my blog. This time, instead of making the crossing concrete, I used stripwood on the inside of the track. Next, I glued the brick […]

Rebuilding the GP Mill, Part 2: Trackwork and Re-Kitbashing the Receiving Building

Two days agoI tore up the Georgia Pacific mill , and today I started to rebuild it. After some debating with Gideon, we decided to move the manufacturing/shipping building to the other side of Rt. 9 with the receiving building. We decided to place the buildings and tracks like this: The track is installed. I […]

Rebuilding the Georgia Pacific Paper Mill, Part 1

Last night Gideon and myself were speculating on the trackwork into the GP paper mill, while preparing the fencing for painting. We determined that the track should be replaced so out with the old… …but we didn’t exactly just put in the new track. We thought we would rearrange the mill a little bit. And […]

Phone Photography on my Layout

Although I have not made much progress on the layout, I was downstairs doing some trackwork tuning/wiring/cleaning and took some low level photos of some scenes Gideon made. There has been a bear sighting behind the paper mill: Some junk in the trash. The door and the container is 3D printed, and the spool of […]

Revisiting Ian MacKellar’s Santa Fe Layout

Last weekend Gideon and I was in Potsdam and we had some times to kill so we were able to get a tour of Ian MacKellar’s excellent HO scale Santa Fe layout. Before we headed down to the layout, Ian showed us a model in his display case that wasn’t there before, a pickle car […]

Month: March 2020